


Escape

by Rioghna



Series: Falling [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Stargate Universe
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-04
Packaged: 2018-05-24 10:54:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6151297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rioghna/pseuds/Rioghna
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Rush is left for dead, he wakes on the alien ship to find himself being rescued and find out that Belle is there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape

Escape

Floating semiconscious in the tank, Nick Rush was tired. It was hard, keeping his mind clear, but he had to. When they tried to interrogate him, he had to be able to focus. He had learned quickly that they couldn't exactly read his mind, he had some resistance to them. This had given him a plan, to focus on anything, everything but _Destiny_. Of course, there were a lot of things in his memory that were unpleasant. Actually, except for his work, his wife, and Belle, that was most of his life, and even memories of Gloria were tinged with the sadness of her loss. Instead, his interrogations had turned into a litany of reviewing the worst memories of his life, the childhood with a father he hated, fights in the school yard and the street, working on the docks when he was big enough. But for the moment, he was alone and he was free to allow other memories, recent memories of Belle. They were painful too. Before he had stepped through the Stargate, that last time they had fought. She had accused him of keeping secrets from her, which he was. He hadn't told her about Spencer, about framing Young. He didn't want her involved, and part of him knew she wouldn't approve, despite the issues with the colonel. He wouldn't risk her. Now, he wished he had kissed her just one more time. Still the reminder that she was safe, far from here, was one of the things that kept him going. So he floated, and dreamed of blue eyes, and brunette curls, of a mind as sharp as a tack, and a tongue that could be the same.

He was dreaming, drifting in and out of consciousness, when one of the aliens woke him. Nick froze, clinched up, ready for the next mental assault. He watched and he waited. Then it looked at him and did something completely unexpected, slammed something into the glass, once, twice, repeatedly, until the glass shattered and he tumbled out onto the cold floor as the fluid he was in washed away.

The alien chirped at him, clicking and waving. Rush came up disoriented but more than willing for a fight, though he was weak. Still the creature held its hands out, not a normal gesture for the aliens that he had seen, but one that a human would recognize, _stop_ , _hold up_. Nick paused and mirrored it. "Why did you do that?" he asked. Why had it let him out and why not use the controls, unless it didn't know how. An idea occurred to him, this could be it, his chance, escape, back home to _Destiny_ , to Belle. "You want to help me?" Carefully and moving slowly, with gestures and wors, he grabbed the translation module. This could be anyone, someone from the ship. He pulled off his own, and held it towards it. "This is how you read my mind. This one transmits, this one receives. Do you understand? Like this," Nick said, putting the module to his head and watched the alien to the same.

Pain exploded in his head as suddenly he was inside the mind of Colonel Everett Young. It was like looking through his eyes, not like the stones at all. He could see it and suddenly he heard it. Belle, they had Belle! Then it was over and he was, for a moment, in the head of the alien. Rush turned on it, all his rage and anger, his fear for the ship and even more, for Belle's safety took over. He threw himself on the alien, his hands around its throat, clenching into rubbery flesh as he kept tightening until it stopped kicking.

The struggle had taken much of his strength, but the scientist knew he had work to do. He ripped the communications module from his head and tossed it away in disgust and grabbed the pipe that Young had used. He had to find Belle.

Rush ran down the halls, reviewing what he had discovered in his time in the alien's mind and set out to find her. They were getting out of here, no matter what. Even if she never wanted to speak to him again, at least he would know she was safe. The ship was cold and he had been lucky enough not to cut his feet or anything else on the broken glass from the tube, but he was starting to shiver a little by the time he reached the small room, identical to the one he'd been held in. The room was empty, and he quickly found the door controls. Floating as he had been, there was Belle. Whispering a silent prayer to whoever might or might not have been listening, he used the pipe to shatter the glass. The ship shuddered, they were under attack from _Destiny_ and were attacking back. It was not the time for subtlety, especially when he wasn't sure how much longer his strength would hold out. He couldn't help the string of curses at what might be happening to the ship, but he had other things to worry about as the glass shattered and Belle fell out onto the floor. He wanted to catch her, but with the force of the fluid and the glass, he knew he would be risking an injury that they could ill afford for that.

Instead, Nick threw himself down by her side and ripped away the mask. Blue eyes opened, panic stricken, and met his. "Belle, it's me, sweetheart. It's Nick, you're okay." She blinked once and then threw herself into his arms.

"Nick, you're alive,'' she whispered frantically against his ear. "The colonel said you were dead. I thought..." She was sobbing as she pressed a kiss to his lips. It was the wrong time, and the wrong place, and he couldn't help but return it, if only for a moment.

"Shhh," he said, breaking away. "I'm alive and I'm here. Now, we are going to get our of here, and then we can sort everything out. I... I love you," he whispered, unable to let go just yet. She was safe, for now, but they had to get out. The ship shuddered again.

"What do we need to do?" she asked, immediately back into professional mode, but when they rose, she took his hand, keeping a tight hold, giving him hope that despite their fight, when they got out of this ( _if they got out of this_ , the cynical part of his mind added), there was something still to save.

Together they hurried through the empty corridors. Most of the aliens were probably busy with the attack. "They are shooting at our ship," Belle whispered indignantly.

"That they are," Nick said. "Fighter bay is this way."

"Is that the plan? Steal one of their fighters and go back to _Destiny_ , and pray we don't get shot down by our own people?"

"Pretty much. I think I know enough to pilot one that far. I learned more than they thought when they were interrogating me," he told her.

"You had better. I never even learned to drive," she told him. "But could we do something...I don't know, damage their ship?"

"I don't know, we are short of time. These doors should lead into the bay. Let's see what we can do."

Belle sat in the second chair of the alien fighter, starting to tremble. They had entered the bay only to find it guarded by one of the blue aliens. He had gone for Nick, but she had managed to grab the pipe, dropped in the attack and swing on the creature. The pipe had made a sickening thud against its head before it collapsed. Nick pulled himself free from beneath the body and dragged her to the nearest ship. "Get strapped in," he said, giving her a gentle shove. "I'm going to see about leaving our hosts a gift."

It seemed forever, but was probably only moments before Nick was back, cursing at the controls, as he started the ship and managed to get them free. Outside she could see the great bulk of _Destiny_ before them. The main gun, mounted on the bottom of her hull fired towards the alien ship.

"Damnit, what have I told them about firing the main gun?" Nick cursed. But even as he steered them towards _Destiny_ , one hand reached out towards her, and she took it.

 

Lieutenant Scott and Sergeant Greer ran down the empty corridors of _Destiny_ , heading for the spot where they expected the alien craft to lock onto them. Both of them stumbled to a halt as they saw the bright circle above them, and backed up into firing positions. The circle of metal dropped onto the deck with a clang. For a moment, there was nothing. Then a figure dropped down from the ship above onto the deck.

"Belle?" Greer said, lowering his gun and stepping forward to take her hand and move her out of the way. A moment later, another figure dropped, this one somewhat less gracefully, onto the disk. Instantly Greer's gun came back up to cover him. But instead of a blue alien, it was Doctor Nicholas Rush. "Colonel Young said you were dead," Greer said, still covering him with the weapon.

"Ah yes.  Did he say how it happened?" Rush asked as Belle moved to him, ignoring the gun the other man was still pointing and reached out to help him up.

"Rock slide," Greer told him.

"Well, obviously he was wrong again, wasn't he?" Rush said vaguely, waving the gun away from them. Belle was still holding onto his hand as they wobbled together down the corridor.

"Colonel Young, this is Greer, come in."

In the console room, Young looked up at the countdown and took an uncertain breath. "This is Young, go ahead."

"You are not going to believe this..."


	2. Homecoming

"Come on," Belle said. "You should rest. I...."

"What I need is a shower, and some proper clothes. This thing is hardly my style," he said, trying for a smile. There were a few other things he needed, but he wasn't about to say them in a public hallway. "I'm fine, Belle," he added quietly. "I'm worried about you. Why don't..."

"Why don't we both have a shower, together?" Belle suggested firmly.

"Are you sure? I know we didn't...I didn't..." he started.

"You are still rubbish at this emotional stuff," Belle said, stroking his cheek. "We had a fight, but that doesn't mean throwing everything we were starting to build away. You just need to talk to me. Now, let us get that shower. You are right, they really aren't my style either. Besides, I'm not quite ready to let you go, yet. I'm still a little afraid that I'll wake and..."

"Let's go, and I'll show you just how real I am," Nick promised.

 

"So where is Doctor Rush?" Young asked when Greer came into the console room.

"I think he and Belle were headed for a shower, or for quarters, I didn't ask. They were headed that way though. Not much down that corridor. But at least we got them back."

"I'm glad Rush is back," Eli said.

"Didn't think you would miss him," Volker said.

"Yeah, well, I didn't think I would until I tried to do his job. Do you have any idea what all he's working on?"

 

"I'll just let you..." Rush started as they approached Belle's quarters.

"Actually, most of my things are in your's," she admitted, biting her lip in that way she did when she was embarrassed. "When the colonel told us of your death..." She paused. It was still hard and she had been badly shaken. "I couldn't believe, I didn't want to believe him."

"And you were right not to. I'm here, I'm alive."

"Yes, but I didn't know that. I...I sort of moved into your quarters, not officially, as if there was such a thing, but...well. It started when I couldn't sleep that first night. I just thought..."

Rush didn't know how to react, to be honest. The thought that Belle had been hurting, it was like a knife to the heart. It also made him want to take another swing at Young, but that was not helpful. Knowing that despite their fight, she had sought comfort in his quarters, that was far more pleasant than he expected it to be. As far as he was concerned, she was welcome to whatever he had, up to and including his worthless carcass. If she wanted to stay in his quarters, if she wanted to move in permanently, he was absolutely not going to argue. But rather than start that discussion, one that they probably neither had the emotional nor physical strength for, instead, he tightened his grip on her hand and continued on down the corridor.

If he was expecting to see some change, he realised that he would have been disappointed. Except for the addition of more of Belle's belongings, the room looked the same. His notebooks were piled on the night table along with yet another truely mediocre novel (the choices aboard _Destiny_ were limited and mostly poor) that he'd started at some point before he and Belle had been together and he'd not gotten further. The only real change was his tee shirt folded neatly on the pillow. _Don't think, don't say something stupid, don't..._ Belle put her arms around him and pulled him into a passionate kiss. It only took seconds for shock to give over to relief, pleasure and a thousand other emotions that he couldn't have named on his best day. "I heard what you said," Belle told him.

"What I..." He tried to get his head back into the conversation.

"On the ship. Did you think I didn't?" she asked.

"No. To be honest, it just came out. I didn't think," Nick told her honestly. "It was the wrong time and the wrong place, but if something had gone wrong, I wanted you to know."

"I love you too, Nick. You are stubborn, arrogant, and infuriating, but I love you anyway. Now, let us get out of these...things and shower."

 

"TJ, have you seen Rush, or Belle?" Colonel Young asked as he stepped into the mess. He had tried to radio Rush. He needed to speak to the man before, well, they needed to get their stories straight. He hadn't let it be generally known that Rush had tried to frame him for Spencer's death.  On the other hand, he had most definitely left the scientist for dead on that rock, and the rumor that he had done away with him hadn't even taken an hour. Now Rush was back, and as usual, not answering his radio.

"No, haven't seen either of them. So Rush is alive. That's pretty amazing," TJ said, but there was a question there.

"Yeah, isn't it? I was sure he was..."

"Everett, what did you do?" the medic asked quietly.

"Fortunately, nothing I can't make right," he replied. "If you see him..." He said louder.

"I'll let you know. I should check them both over anyway. Let them know if you find them first?"

"If I find them."

 

After they had managed to get each other out of the alien wetsuits, a process that would have been much more pleasant had they not both been exhausted, ('not like we have clothes to waste,' Rush growled as the suit fell to the deck with a wet *plop*) they had showered slowly enjoying the time and the physical contact. Then, wrapped in towels, the advantage of living on a corridor that held only their two quarters, they had returned to Rush's room where Belle had taken his towel and encouraged him into the bed, without bothering with clothes. She really needed time with his skin against hers, but first things first.

"You should eat something," Belle said, toweling her hair dry. Now that they were safe, she was feeling a little protective. "I could go to the mess and get..."

"I'm fine, love," he told her. "All I need right now is you in my arms." Nick reached for her and she came to him, slipping under the blankets and pressing close. "There, that's much better. Nothing in the mess could make me feel nearly as good."

"Well, now that we are here, are you ready to tell me what happened? And does it have anything to do with what we were fighting about?" Belle asked, perceptively.

"It...I've done some things, Belle. Things I thought were for the best. It's been a while since I worried about anyone or anything but the work," he told her cautiously. "Now, I'm afraid that if I tell you everything, you will leave me." There it was, honest and scary as hell. It wasn't a feeling he was used to.

"Have you killed anyone?" Belle asked. "Started a war, turned someone into a snail? Or do you have a secret torture fetish I don't know about? Maybe hiding some weapons of mass destruction?" she asked, propping her head up on one hand on his chest.

"No, I can definitely say I've never done any of those things," Nick told her.

Belle looked at him. Once again, she was reminded of Rumple, when he had finally been honest with her. If she could forgive the sorcerer, there was little chance that she could not forgive the scientist. The similarities should scare her, but somehow, they didn't. "In that case, I'm pretty sure I can forgive you. I might not agree, I might be disappointed, but as long as we talk, as long as you are honest with me, we can get through this. My partner, the one that died..." she started slowly. "He did something, he hid something from me for what he thought were very good reasons and because of that...I didn't know that I was going to lose him. When he...died, I thought I would never love anyone again. Then you...and we fought and Young told us you were dead and..." She broke. Big, hot, wet tears were falling on his chest. He'd never known, he'd never asked about the man who she had lost, unsure of what to say. But now, he gathered her to him, pulling the bedcovers tightly around them, and holding her close, whispering promises into her hair.

When the tears had passed, Rush had told her, he'd confessed everything, including the fight with Young that had left him bruised and abandoned on that alien planet. "It was wrong to try to cast doubt on Young," Belle said carefully. "But leaving a man for dead is hardly the same thing. What are we going to do about the..."

"No one ever said that Young understood proportional response," Rush told her. "We can worry about the other thing later. Together. But now that you know everything, perhaps we can forget Young for a while."

"I'm not sure I'm up to..." she started tiredly.

"Nor I, but that doesn't mean I can't hold you. I need to feel you close and know, really know, that you are safe."

 

Young gave up. He had looked everywhere, well almost everywhere. That left the one place he had been avoiding, Rush's quarters. Ideally, Rush would have come to him. It seemed petty, but the scientist really needed to understand the chain of command. However, when weighed against the potential disaster of the entire crew finding out what really happened, his authority was much less important, or rather it was less important than the hit it would take if Rush told everyone what had happened. He headed down the corridor that held only the two scientists. For a moment he paused outside Doctor French's quarters, considering whether or not he should tell her that TJ wanted to see her to give her a physical, but he changed his mind. It was hard enough to keep moving towards the probably inevitable confrontation with the irascible scientist without distraction. Besides, Doctor French had not been herself recently, not since Rush's 'death'. He knew the two of them worked closely together, and he had assumed she was upset.

He reached the door and knocked. "Rush, it's Young, we need to talk," he shouted to be heard through the thick steel.

"Now is not a good time, Colonel," Rush's voice came dimly from the other side.

"I'm coming in," the colonel said. He wasn't about to be put off. "Please be wearing clothes," he said quietly as he hit the palm plate. The door slid open and Young's mouth dropped open. Of all the things he had been expecting, Doctors Rush and French, both in his bed and neither, apparently dressed was not even on the list. "I...um..." He turned.

"I told you it was a bad time," Rush said, pulling the bedcover higher around Belle's shoulder. "But since it was so important, I guess you'd best have your say."

"No...I...we can talk tomorrow," the colonel said, looking at just about anything but the two of them.

"No need," Belle said sweetly. "Nick and I have no secrets." There was something cold in her look that told him everything he needed to know. Belle French definitely knew what he had done.

"I just...well...about what happened before. I haven't..." Young started.

"You want to know what I'm going to say, about what happened," he said. "Tell the crew that you tried to kill me."

"It would be your word against mine. I didn't tell anyone that you tried to frame me for Spenser's death," the colonel said. If he was expecting shock from Belle, he was mistaken. He wondered if she had known the entire time, if she had helped him even.

"There's that, I suppose. I just want to know if I can assume you are going to try to kill me again the next chance you get."

"I saved you aboard that alien ship," Young reminded him.

"You fired on that ship while I was still aboard, while we were both still aboard," Rush replied, pulling Belle closer to him.

"That was a command decision. I was protecting the greater good..." Belle looked at Rush and prodded him a little.

"I realise I did provoke you," Rush said. It was as close as he was going to get to apologizing to the man who had very nearly killed them both.

"If it makes you feel any better, I deeply regret my actions. Not that you didn't...I regret what I did, because it made me into someone I couldn't respect." Rush looked at him, then at Belle. She just shook her head. It wasn't going to go away, and it wasn't going to get any better. They knew the truth, that was what mattered, they were all alive and all still here.

"Looks to me like you both have to live with your actions," Belle said. "But right now, there are more important things than your personality issues." She looked, first at Young, then at Rush. "The crew doesn't need this. We have to be ready. That little act of sabotage we committed on the alien ship isn't going to stop them for long."

"So what are you suggesting, that we forgive and forget?" Rush asked her gently.

"I'm not suggesting either. I am suggesting that we ignore it and get on with what needs doing, for the sake of everyone on board." Belle starred hard at both of them until they nodded, looking a bit like naughty school boys who had been caught running in the library rather than pig headed grown men.

"For the sake of the crew?" Young asked.

"For the sake of the crew," Rush acknowledged. "It's not as if we were ever friends."

Young nodded. "In that case, I will leave you to..."

"Yes, do that," Rush said. "Be kind enough to close the door on your way out." He pulled Belle closer to him and turned away from the colonel. Young took it as a good time to get the hell out of the very uncomfortable situation. Rush was right, they weren't friends, but they should hopefully be able to get their jobs done.

 

"You didn't mention the tracker," Rush said when the door closed behind him.

"I didn't. I don't trust him not to just space you. We will find a way to deal with it. We just have to do it together."

"Together, I like the sound of that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this was just a little short. I'm not exactly sure where it was going, but I kind of wanted to see how things played out. Please leave a comment in the little box.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, for those who have read the rest of Falling, I always intended to write something about how their relationship fared especially after the incidents of 'Justice' and 'Space'. I couldn't quite figure out the way to do it, until this occurred to me. It will be a two parter, but this is a lot of what is going on in Rush's mind and a hint as to what happened. The rest will be in the next bit.


End file.
